Same score as last night, but flipped; this time, the Braves again got all their runs in one inning, but not enough.
Brandon Beachy struck out six and walked no one in five innings, but gave up seven hits, including a homer to the opposing pitcher, Zach Britton, in the third. The Orioles got another run in that inning, and Britton scored another in the fifth, making it 3-0.
The Braves had had their chances, of course. In the first, they had first-and-third, one out, but couldn’t score. In the fifth, they loaded the bases with one out, but Jason Heyward, who had a rough game, hit a 3-2 pitch into a 1-2-3 DP. Finally in the sixth, they got off the mat.
Chipper walked. All-star starter Brian McCann, the best catcher in baseball, singled. Freddie Freeman followed with another single and it was 3-1. After the Uggla out, Nate McLouth singled to load the bases. Julio Lugo, starting at short, hit a chopper for an out, but scored McCann, and pinch-hitter Eric Hinske singled in two to make it 4-3.
And Fredi brought in Scott Proctor to pitch the seventh. He had a good reason: he’s dumb. Proctor, who is kind of like Tim Hudson if Hudson was a reliever and sucked, did what Hudson did last night, giving up a two-run homer to Mark Reynolds. 5-4. Proctor even came out to pitch the eighth — see above, re: Fredi being dumb — and Cory Gearrin had to bail him out.
McCann almost tied it with a two-out drive in the seventh, but it hit the top of the wall and he was thrown out at second. In the eighth, McLouth just missed a two-run homer. The Braves had two out with two out, but Brooks Conrad couldn’t come through this time. They went 1-2-3 in the ninth, Chipper, after getting ahead 3-1, striking out on two pitches that looked nowhere near to me.
If you listen carefully, you’ll hear me applauding you all the way from Miami, FL.
Great recap of a really frustrating game.
Even the Orioles announcers were shocked at secong strike on Success and the last two on Chipper.
That was an excruciatingly frustrating game to watch. The Braves blew chance after chance, the manager did his usual bullpen bungling, Uggla was awful, Heyward was awful, and the homeplate umpire called three critical balls for strikes in the final inning to seal it. I just want to forget that this game ever happened.
2 – Well, that’s because they were balls.
But let’s change the subject. Has anybody seen the new Transformers? I thought the 1st one was great and the 2nd one was horse poop, but could be convinced to see this one if enough people say it doesn’t suck.
Weird stat: 2 out of the last 4 games we’ve had 10 hits, none of them for extra bases. (See 6/29 against M’ners.)
What irritates me is that Heyward looks like a pretty weak hitter, and also that in the past week, he’s been sending me random Facebook spam, apparently because a year ago I “liked” the Atlanta Braves. Unless Heyward starts hitting better soon, I’m going to put him on ignore.
Is there a pitcher in baseball with less movement on his pitches than Scott Proctor?
Bowman might be stepping down as Braves mouthpiece during the Fredi era since he’s actually questioning managerial decisions (via twitter)…
“Obviously hearing a lot of you complain about Proctor. Better question is why was he put in that situation.”
“Even if you don’t want to go with Linebrink or O’Flaherty there, wouldn’t CoryGearrin have been a better option?”
Or, he is still their mouthpiece and they are as pissed about Fredi as we are. Too good to be true, I know, but someone’s gotta take notice, right? Right?
@8, if DOB makes a similar observation, Kremlinologists might assume it’s Fredi rather than Mark who may be headed to a re-education camp.
I would love for someone from the 23% “not dumb” crowd to explain their reasoning.
DFA Proctor already.
Juan Rivera was DFA’d today. That’s the 2nd guy this week that I’d rather have than Wilkin Ramirez.
Chippers comments…
“Guy kept both pitchers on the plate all day. Then for some reason decides to start calling backdoor sliders that are six inches off the plate. Guess it was too hot and he had to get on that plane. It’s unfortunate because 3-1 and 3-2, obviously he’s throwing me sliders and curveballs off the plate. He’s being very careful. We’ve got a our best hitter coming up right after that. It’s unfortunate that Mac didn’t get the chance to win us that ballgame.”
“It’s always frustrating when you’re not allowed to do your job. I’ve said it time and time again: the officiating in this league is substandard for the most part.”
“I actually apologized to hm after the 3-1 pitch. I said, ‘I’m sorry, but that was right where the 2-1 pitch was, and it was called a ball.’ He said, ‘That ball got plate.’ I knew I was dealing with a larger-than-average strike zone at that point.”
@7 – I don’t know, the one to Reynolds might still be moving…
Cargo got carted off the field this afternoon. Although a blow for my fantasy team, this is clearly not the worst news for Braves fans this evening.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez knows that Jair Jurrjens has produced the credentials to warrant a spot on the National League All-Star team. And while he’d love for him to earn the starting nod, he realizes that it may go to a more established pitcher, like Cy Young winners Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee.
“I think you almost have to go with Doc or Lee,” Gonzalez said. “[Both have] seniority, both are Cy Young award winners.”
Fredi certainly does not have Bobby’s best trait of sticking up for his players.
Interesting that Peanut is publicly questioning Frediot. The only thing we ever heard like that from him with Bobby was “he has a tendency to use some relievers with great regularity.”
Fredi is an *expletive* idiot.
If there was one thing that made Bobby worth rooting for despite his various failings it was that he always stuck up for his players. He did it to the point where it was a joke. He did it if it made him look stupid. Hell, he even did it for Yunel Escobar, who everyone on the team (including Bobby!) hated. It irks me to see Fredi let Proctor blow games for us and then not even say, “Yeah, I think they should let our guy start the ASG because he’s been the better pitcher this year.”
Sidenote: Brian McCann is such a good baseball player that no one here has even mentioned how he should’ve hustled instead of admiring his not-a-HR in the 7th. Plus, he bungled that 1st-and-3rd with 1 out in the 1st inning. And I’m not even mad at him! That’s how frickin good he is.
I’m the guy whispering that McCann is “only a man”.
Absolutely love him, but he’s got some stuff he can improve on.
And he’s still the best hitting catcher in baseball. That’s how good a hitter he is.
Hail, Chipper!!
Finally, somebody has the balls (and the paycheck) to call out these lazy, incompetent Barney Fifes in public.
@10 – post of the week.
@4 I saw the third one on Friday, and it was watchable. The action was the best yet, but it was just soooo long and bizarrely self-important. I would have enjoyed it more had I not been starving for the last 5 hours of the film.
He’ll probably get fined, but this line from Chipper is gold.
#24 You didn’t run today, did you?
25- Maybe he really is retiring; that would certainly give him the freedom to say what he thinks.
@26 Unfortunately, no.
Why would MLB fine CJ when video evidence back that the pitches were out of strike zone and that the ump tries to bait him as even the Orioles anouncers noted. I would like to see what ump would say at a hearing. It would give CJ an excuse not to go to all star game, or go and not play.
@28 it is a long seasom and we will need you, the Kloser and Venters later. To heck with Dan (Uggla?)
I want to like Jason Heyward again.
sounds like a kid typing, but thought i’d share it anyway…
http://bravescountry.tumblr.com/post/7167802910/rumor-mill-matt-kemp-deal-leaked-through-the-ajc
@32, Too good to be true methinks.
Way too good to be true, but man, that’d be nice, even if it meant Beachy’s departure. We’d still have Minor, after all.
Fredi will stick up for Proctologist, though:
“We can’t keep running the same guys out there all the time. Shoot, Scotty has done a hell of a job for us. Everything was in place for us to get through that seventh inning. I thought we had the right guy in there.”
Wow, glad I didn’t watch the game yesterday. The Braves’ recent run of victories included a lot of close games (enough to bring their actual W/L record in line with the Pythag expected W/L) but the good fortune couldn’t last forever.
For your viewing pleasure, here is the Pitch F/X plot for Chipper’s AB that ended the game: http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/location.php-pitchSel=276514&game=gid_2011_07_03_balmlb_atlmlb_1&batterX=80&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=3.gif
35 – That’s because he’s really sticking up for himself.
I completely agree, Adam. MRSA won’t stick up for his own players, but he’s always good for a shoddy rationalization of a bankrupt thought process.
If that deal is on the table for Kemp they should have pulled the trigger already.
Ron Washington just said something that most of us can agree with:
Fredi makes it sound like his choices were use O’Ventbrel or use Proctor, which is really dishonest.
Bryce Harper just got promoted to AA, skipping High A in the process. He posted a .315/.420/.551 line in A as an 18 year old. The Nationals might be pretty damn good in a couple years.
Fredi not saying JJ should start annoys me more than using Proctor. What a dumb comment.
New poll.
Love the poll.
I agree, if that deal was really being considered by the Dodgers, which I doubt then it would have been done by now.
I’m first in on lingonberry, as I believe it to be short for “lingering dingleberry”
Should, and will Schafer bat 9th when Prado comes back, assuming he is the starter in CF ? I think I would be in favor of it, something I never in my life envisioned I would say, that being batting the pitcher 8th.
Will Heyward bat lower with Prade second?